Free Pyramid of the Gods by Aiden James, J. R. Rain

available, the more gold we carry,” he replied, and began climbing down the hillside. “It means more for you and me this way, no?”
    “ You might as well let us come along, Nick,” said Marie, moving up to me. She smiled and her eyes were aglow...she had something to tell me. It would have to wait. “Otherwise, we’ll follow anyway.”
    Ishi echoed the same message.
    “Okay, I guess,” I said, shaking my head. I looked at the other two. “Stay close.”
    Motumbo had scaled half the hillside before we scurried after him. He waited for us at the bottom, seemingly mesmerized by the surreal perspective of a youthful pyramid and it’s godlike essence pouring forth from the entrance ahead. Marie and Ishi kept watchful eyes on the sand that hadn’t settled yet. Any missteps could take us under, and without a rope attached to our waists there would be no way to rescue someone. I tried not to think about it, and released a low sigh when we made it to the steps. Motumbo shot me an amused look before running up to the entrance.
    “Look, Boss!”
    Ishi pointed beyond Motumbo. I looked up in time to see a shadowed figure disappear into the sunlike brightness. Sunlike, and yet easy on the eyes...a logical outlook became increasingly difficult to hang on to.
    “I saw it, too!” said Marie.
    Motumbo grunted at us, upon reaching the entrance, as if he now regretted his decision to bring us along. My own attention was drawn to the pristine pictograms on either side of the entrance. Despite their clarity when first discovered, something had changed since the other day. They appeared sharper in detail, and as I moved closer to study them, I was amazed to find the crazing—that is, small fissures—had been mended. It was as if the images had recently been painted, instead of four millennia ago.
    As soon as Motumbo stepped through the entrance, the light dimmed and quickly receded into the pyramid, shrinking back through passages like a helium birthday balloon relieved of air. He gave chase and we kept up with him.
    “ This looks a lot bigger than before,” said Ishi, as we jogged behind Motumbo.
    “ You mean longer,” I said, just as surprised to find the tunnel clearly longer than I remembered it being. What the devil was going on?
    “ Must you always correct everybody?” chided Marie.
    “ Of course,” I grinned, despite the insane circumstances we’d found ourselves in. Just another day in the life of Nick Caine, adventurer, looter...lover.
    My chuckle was short-lived. The tunnel forked—a feature that wasn’t there before. The light drifted toward the right fork, but not before we glimpsed piles of gold to the left.
    “Oh my God, there it is!” Marie whispered in awe.
    Motumbo was the only one with a flashlight, and he turned it on when the golden glow we followed disappeared, throwing us into impenetrable darkness for a moment.
    “So, it is true,” he said, stepping inside the immense room filled with familiar gold artifacts from when we first ventured inside the pyramid. “Is this where you hid the gold from us?” He eyed me suspiciously.
    “ Yeah, I filled up a few wheelbarrows when I heard you were coming, and managed to move a hundred tons of this stuff before you got here.” Hey, what could he do to me now that he was unarmed? At least I assumed he was unarmed, suddenly remembering the gun I still carried. He could have a concealed weapon, too. “Be logical, man. There’s no way—”
    Someone called my name. It wasn’t in this room or the tunnel attached to it. The voice sounded like it originated where the light had withdrawn to, down the other fork. Almost hollow sounding, the voice was female.
    “There’s no way, what?” he asked, his eyes squinted as he studied me. I believe Motumbo said something else, too. But the other voice called me again, saying great danger was coming, and to be protected, I needed to come to where the voice called from.
    “ I need to check on something,” I said,